Tiger wrestling team takes 2nd at Parker Invitational

Behind eight individuals placing either first or second in their respective weight divisions, the Marshall/Lakeview wrestling team claimed second place at the Parker (S.D.) wrestling invitational on Saturday. The Tigers scored 197 points as a team, but Howard’s 214 points were the best of any of the 13 competing teams.

The Tigers also had three individual champions.

Matt Facile won top honors at 126 pounds with a 3-0 record, while Riley Roth duplicated the feat at 132 pounds. Austin Nath, wrestling in the heavyweight division, also went a perfect 3-0 on his way to his individual title.

“It was a lot of fun,” Tigers head coach Justin Bouwman said. “The guys wrestled really well. Howard has a really good team and a lot of the other teams have a lot of good individual wrestlers. Kingsbury (S.D.) has a 195-pounder who signed with SMSU who is the guy Jared (Holland) went up against in the championship. He was very impressive.”

Marshall/Lakeview (9-15 overall) had five second place finishers on Saturday, as well, while Nick Erbes claimed a third place finish at 120 pounds.

Kesmond Willert went 2-1 at 113 pounds to take second, while Ramzi Gregoire was second-best at 138. Campbell Hofstetter, Jared Holland and Justin Varpness each were 2-1 and took second at their weight divisions.

“It’s a really good tournament,” Bouwman said. “Not everyone has loaded teams and it gives our younger guys the opportunity to have some success. It was fun to see people we don’t see all year, with the exception of Luverne.”

The Cardinals took fourth in Parker with 124 points, 17 behind McCook Central Montrose and 12 points in front of fifth-place finisher Deuel. Luverne, like the Tigers, will be back in action on Thursday for a triangular in Pipestone.